Morales vs. Alfaro: Erik to retire if he loses

By Boxing News - 02/26/2010 - Comments

Image: Morales vs. Alfaro: Erik to retire if he losesBy Jim Dower: Erik Morales (48-6, 34 KO’s) will be making a comeback after three years out of action when he comes back against lightweight contender Jose Alfaro (23-5, 20 KO’s) on March 27th, in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Morales, 33, hasn’t fought since being defeated by World Boxing Council lightweight champion David Diaz by a 12 round decision in August 2007. For Morales, that was his fourth consecutive loss and perhaps a good signal that he should hang up the gloves for good. It’s unknown what has caused Morales to want to make a comeback after all this time.

In looking back at his last fight against Diaz, Morales looked like a shell of his former great self, as he spent much of the fight retreating from Diaz and taking heavy shots to the head and body. Morales clearly had his moments in the fight, knocking Diaz down in the final seconds of the 1st round with a big right hand and landing effectively in many of the other rounds. However, Diaz clearly outworked Morales and punished him throughout the fight.

Morales made Diaz, a good but flawed fighter, look like super star. Although Morales and some of his fans felt that he should have won the fight, it really doesn’t matter all that much. Morales wasn’t likely going to go far even if he had won the bout, because he was taking too much punishment by this point in his career and he probably would have been beaten if he was put in with talented lightweights Juan Diaz and Nate Campbell.

In an interview at The Record, Morales says that he’ll retire from boxing again should he lose to Alfaro on the 27th. Morales might want to get his retirement speech ready, because there’s a good chance that he’ll be beaten by Alfaro. The fight will be taking place at 142 instead of lightweight, a move made because it would likely be incredibly hard for Morales to make lightweight after all this time.

In the last year, Morales’ weight has gotten really out of control as he’s become significantly overweight. Morales has lost most of the weight judging from recent pictures, but he still looks slightly pudgy for him and visibly older than he was the last time he fought three years ago.

n two of his losses to Manny Pacquiao in 2006, Morales looked badly weight drained from having to melt down to the super featherweight division, which he was finding it hard to get back down to at this point in his career. The fight against Alfraro will be at welterweight, so the hope here is that Morales will have a better chance in the fight because he might not be drained from making weight.

Morales will have to fight better than he did in his last fight against Diaz if he wants to beat Alfaro. Morales was far too passive in that fight and took a lot of punishment from Diaz. Morales did a lot of retreating and covering up in that fight, and looked nothing like his former great self from his earlier years of his career.



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